


Red and Black

by melannen



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Songfic, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-03-10
Updated: 2003-03-10
Packaged: 2017-10-02 19:29:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melannen/pseuds/melannen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six decades, six couples, six vignettes: one red-haired woman and one black-haired man, together, alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red and Black

**Author's Note:**

> My first songfic! Oh, I'm so proud of ickle me. (And I actually still think it's rather good. Shockingly.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ **1926: The Color of Despair** _

They lay tangled together in the darkness, and she watched his pale face and his black hair that bled away into the night. He threaded his hands through her long red tangles and she shivered under his touch.

He made a sound deep in his throat, lifting one of her tresses and running his fingers down the smoothness of it. "They used to say that red hair was a mark of a witch," he murmured. "Have you ensorcelled me? Is that why I feel?"

"Is love black magic?" she asked, but with a bitter twist to her lips. And suddenly, intense, she propped herself on her elbows, the red hair falling around her, putting her face in shadow as she looked down at him. "Tom, do you really love me no matter what? Forever?"

He traced a finger along her cheekbone, and stroked her hair again. "In sickness and in health," he whispered. "To love and to cherish."

"Till death do us part," she breathed, and pulled him into a kiss.

_ **1943: The Color of Desire** _

They walked through the grey rose garden hand in hand. She alighted on the rim of an empty marble fountain, and he slid up next to her. She pushed a thread of her pale red hair out of her dragonfly eyes and watched him sidewise; his black hair and dark robes, his eyes the colorless color of the winter sky.

He leaned back, slender, and caught her gazing at him. "My Sybill," he said. "Whose death did you foresee today?"

She shook her head. "The Inner Eye is crowded. There's death everywhere. Death in the Muggle war, death in the wizard war, death in the skies and death in the streets."

He smiled a secret little smile, a snake's smile, and she stole another glance at him. "Not here, though," she said. "Never here. When I'm with you, Tom, I know you're going to live forever."

He turned, then pulled her to him and buried his face in her red hair. "You always know just what to say to me," he told her neck.

She sat very still beside him and grinned triumphantly up into the sky.

_ **1955: The Blood of Angry Men** _

He leaned back against the tree, scratching at the black that was still a young man's beard. "I oughtn't be lettin' yeh do this," he said. "If Mr. Ogg finds out--"

A cheerful face framed by red curls leaned out of the tree. "He won't find out. Don't worry."

"If he finds out I'll be in trouble again."

"Hagrid," she said after a minute punctuated only by rustling sounds from the tree, "Is it true, the rumors about why you were expelled?"

He looked up at her, then away, crossing his arms. "Dumbledore trusts me."

"I never said I didn't," she answered.

He didn't reply.

"Hagrid," she said, "Is it true, what they say about tall men?"

"What? Molly!" he said, unfolding his arms and staring at her. "Yeh're to young to be askin' that sort of thing!"

She grinned unrepentantly, swinging her legs over a branch. "I have four older brothers."

He almost smiled back at her, but looked away. "We'd best be goin' soon. The Forest's no safe place after dark."

"I'm not afraid," she said. "There's nothing here that would hurt me with you around."

He shook his head, but he was smiling as he sat down below the tree. "Yeh're _mad_."

_ **1976: The World About to Dawn** _

He swept her into his arms and she laughed, her dark red hair flaring out behind her. "Not here, James! In the middle of the street?"

"Why not the middle of the street?" he said. "Are you ashamed of me, Lily?"

"No!" She batted his hands away. "But we're supposed to be inconspicuous. There could be enemies around."

He snorted, pushing his messy black hair out of his eyes. "That was a lost cause. How do they expect the handsomest boy in Hogsmeade--"

She started giggling.

"And the most beautiful woman in the world," he continued, "to be inconspicuous together? Impossible! Besides," he added quietly, "When I'm with you-- sometimes-- none of that matters any more."

She smiled up at him and relaxed into his arms. "When I'm with you," she said, "I stop worrying about the war. Because I know that as long as we're together, nothing bad can possibly happen."

"Still," she added meditatively, "Dumbledore would probably be annoyed if we ripped each other's clothes off in the street."

"You make a persuasive argument," he admitted, and let her lead him laughing away.

_ **1993: The Dark of Ages Past** _

He watched her in the dimness of the Chamber, face pale and hair turned crimson by the light. She swayed between fire and shadow, fighting him as she desired him, fighting death as she desired death.

He watched her as she won the fight by losing the fight, collapsing silently and with all the ethereal grace of the dying onto the damp stone floor, her hair pooled around her like blood; felt her fire pour into his shadow as she learned at last not to resist.

He was but a memory, a memory of darkness, a blur of black hair and dark robes, a smear of ink on a page, a whisper in the night.

He remembered red hair. He remembered red hair, and winter sunlight, and life.

He bent to touch her hair, to remember for truth, but he was still too much a memory himself, and his fingers passed through her like the ghosts they were.

She stirred fretfully in her trance and murmured "Tom," reverent as if she were praying.

"Ginny," he answered, and she was silent.

_ **2000: The Night that Ends at Last** _

They stood together by the lake. Her red hair draggled into her face, and she shoved it impatiently behind her ears. "I still can't believe it," she said.

He turned to her. "Which part?"

"I can't believe it's finally over."

He shook his head. "I can't believe we've finally begun."

She grinned. "Well, that too. I was starting to think you were hopeless." And she kissed him.

When she'd pulled away she said, "My Mum's going to say we're so cute together." She pushed his messy black fringe gently away from his forehead. "I think she fancies dark-haired men."

"Hmph." he said. "Sirius is going to say we look just like my parents."

She pulled back. "Do we?"

He shrugged. "How would I know? I never knew my parents." They fell silent, staring over the choppy waters of the lake. "I think we're just ourselves. That's enough."

"Yes," she said. "It's all I've ever wanted."

They were silent again. Then he asked, diffidently, "Ginny? Do you really love me? Will you really love me forever? You don't-- you don't have to."

She looked him in the eyes. "I've already loved you forever, Harry. Time doesn't matter."

He smiled.


End file.
